Contortionist Olga Pikhienko
July 28, 2008 3:19 PM Subscribe
Handbalancing by Russian contortionist Olga Pikhienko.
One of Olga's routines played over Bachelorette by Björk
Olga in Hephaestus
One of Olga's routines played over Bachelorette by Björk
Olga in Hephaestus
She's a little bit more flexible than I am. And stronger. With better balance.
posted by dobbs at 3:32 PM on July 28, 2008
posted by dobbs at 3:32 PM on July 28, 2008
Sorry, I'm not a fan of Cirque de Soleil because I find it cloyingly pretentious. Olga clearly has talent, but I'm more a fan of Daniel Browning Smith.
posted by Tube at 4:30 PM on July 28, 2008
posted by Tube at 4:30 PM on July 28, 2008
..umm, there's snake girl, if you like that sort of thing.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:49 PM on July 28, 2008
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:49 PM on July 28, 2008
If I ever go deaf, the bright side will be that I could enjoy another Cirque du Soleil performance.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:52 PM on July 28, 2008
posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:52 PM on July 28, 2008
She's a fountain of blood, in the shape of a girl.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 5:43 PM on July 28, 2008
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 5:43 PM on July 28, 2008
To be fair, I don't think Cirque de Soleil is pretentious. They are just genuinely weird.
posted by DU at 5:50 PM on July 28, 2008
posted by DU at 5:50 PM on July 28, 2008
To be fair, I don't think Cirque de Soleil is pretentious. They are just genuinely weird.
But why choose? They've always been pretentious. Which doesn't diminish how amazing their stuff is. But even back in 1989, when I saw them in a tent in Santa Monica, and no one had heard of them (relative to now), they were selling CDs of their theme music to people as they entered the show. Before the friggin' show!
Just took my kids to Sea World and their set was my favorite part of the whole park by far. But Lord they could stand to lighten up a little. A touch of that old Pickle Family Circus funk would do 'em a world of good.
posted by msalt at 6:26 PM on July 28, 2008
But why choose? They've always been pretentious. Which doesn't diminish how amazing their stuff is. But even back in 1989, when I saw them in a tent in Santa Monica, and no one had heard of them (relative to now), they were selling CDs of their theme music to people as they entered the show. Before the friggin' show!
Just took my kids to Sea World and their set was my favorite part of the whole park by far. But Lord they could stand to lighten up a little. A touch of that old Pickle Family Circus funk would do 'em a world of good.
posted by msalt at 6:26 PM on July 28, 2008
I'm not surprised that they could sell their CD to people who never heard their music.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 6:57 PM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by kuujjuarapik at 6:57 PM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]
Impressive, but I'm disappointed by the lack of balancing hands.
posted by sir_rubixalot at 8:31 PM on July 28, 2008
posted by sir_rubixalot at 8:31 PM on July 28, 2008
Sort of, oflinkey (former Irish stepdancer here). She's wearing these, which look like ghillies but are made of much, much, much softer leather (you basically can't bend soft shoes when you get them out of the box, which is sort of the point since they help you get higher up on your toes) and also have a much longer vamp than the shoes worn in competition, which very barely cover the tip of your big toenail.
Um. Sorry, I got some dance geek on you there.
Also, cool post!
posted by fuzzbean at 12:20 PM on July 29, 2008
Um. Sorry, I got some dance geek on you there.
Also, cool post!
posted by fuzzbean at 12:20 PM on July 29, 2008
Both of the shows I've seen of cirque include funny clowns who mime fart jokes or bopping each other on the head. Now I'm confused.
Well, look at the video here for example. Would it kill her to smile, maybe, or lose a couple of the oh-so-dramatic Flashdance moves? I don't think people would be any less impressed by her amazing skills if she did.
posted by msalt at 12:51 PM on July 29, 2008
Well, look at the video here for example. Would it kill her to smile, maybe, or lose a couple of the oh-so-dramatic Flashdance moves? I don't think people would be any less impressed by her amazing skills if she did.
posted by msalt at 12:51 PM on July 29, 2008
That was really impressive. Though, if I were her, I would find the idea of getting into push-up contests with competitive people nearly overwhelming.
Guy: "Check it out, I can do one handed pushups."
Olga: [wordlessly] *Places one hand, slowly lifts feet off ground, suspends herself upside down, does push-up*
Guy: "fuck."
What was the deal with the REC ll SP thing on the video? Was it supposed to look like an old camcorder or something? Because it jumped through the edits and really confused me.
posted by quin at 2:23 PM on July 29, 2008
Guy: "Check it out, I can do one handed pushups."
Olga: [wordlessly] *Places one hand, slowly lifts feet off ground, suspends herself upside down, does push-up*
Guy: "fuck."
What was the deal with the REC ll SP thing on the video? Was it supposed to look like an old camcorder or something? Because it jumped through the edits and really confused me.
posted by quin at 2:23 PM on July 29, 2008
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posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 3:31 PM on July 28, 2008